Casey Anthony became the 'most hated mother in America' during her two-month trial for the murder of two-year-old daughter, Caylee.

Now, defense attorney Cheney Mason, says that ‘the world owes an apology,’ to the young mother whom he has described as having ‘endured the unthinkable with the courage of a lion.’

It is three years since a Florida court acquitted Casey of the murder of toddler Caylee whose skeletal remains were found six months after she went missing in June 2008.

Casey Anthony, who was found not guilty of murdering her daughter three years ago, is seen with Cheney Mason last summer, presumably taken at her home in an undisclosed location in Florida. Mason's new book 'Justice in America' has just been released

'Chainless imprisonment': Casey Anthony's attorney says that despite her acquittal for the murder of her two-year-old daughter Caylee, she's still serving a heavy sentence

Today, with the publication of ‘Justice
in America,’ attorney Mr Mason provides an excoriating insight into
Casey’s prosecution and mounts an impassioned defense of Casey with whom
he and his wife, Shirley, have formed a close relationship.

In a forensic examination of the case, and the very notion of justice in America, he has slammed Anthony’s prosecution as ‘corrupt’; revealed how evidence was suppressed; claimed defense witnesses were intimidated and told of his ‘astonishment’ at Casey’s father, George’s testimony in court.

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And he has revealed that, to this day, not only Casey lives ‘like a prisoner’ in an undisclosed location, afraid to go out and battling a bankruptcy case, but he, his wife, and other members of the defense team endure persistent and serious threats.

According to Mr Mason the FBI, Secret Service and American Postal Service have all been called to investigate such threats.

Meanwhile Casey lives in a shared house, somewhere in Florida, attempting to make some sort of living through clerical work from home.

Speaking to CNN last week Mr Mason revealed that Casey who accused her father of sexually molesting her, ‘does not have any blood family anymore.’

Instead he and his wife, Shirley, have become surrogate parents of sorts to Casey who was 22 when the case was first brought to national attention in July 2008.

No evidence: Mason says there was no forensic evidence linking Casey Anthony's car or her person to the death of her daughter

By then toddler Caylee had been missing for 31 days. Her mother Cindy and father George testified that Casey left the family house with her almost three-year-old daughter on 15 June.

On 30 June the family car, being used by Casey, was towed and when Cindy and George contacted their daughter she claimed she was on a mini-vacation in Jacksonville, Florida.

She
subsequently claimed that she had left the child with a babysitter and
returned to find both mysteriously gone. When Caylee’s disappearance was
discovered Casey claimed to have mounted an investigation of her own.

On
15 July her mother Cindy made three 911 calls, reporting her
granddaughter as missing and infamously stating in one, ‘I found my
daughter’s car today and it smelt like there had been a damn body in the
car.’

It
was, according to Mr Mason, a statement never borne out by forensic
evidence and yet, in spite of Casey’s ultimate acquittal that statement
continues to be a defining moment in the minds of many who reacted with
outrage at the not guilty verdict.

Insight: Despite being acquitted, Casey Anthony has not been forgiven the crime by the American public, who largely believe she got away with murder, says Mason in his new book

In a methodical survey of the trial and coverage Mr Mason has knocked down what he presents as prevailing myths that cling to the case and point to Casey’s ‘guilt’.

He has dismissed reports that Caylee’s head was bound in duct tape as a ‘distortion’ and untrue, pointed to the fact that no blood or incriminating stains were ever found in Casey’s car, or clothes and no toxic substances found on Caylee’s hair, or dirt similar to that of the discovery site found on Casey’s shoes or clothes.

Exactly where, and when, the body was found is, according to Mr Mason a key and contentious point. Caylee’s remains were finally, officially, found in December 2008.

In fact meter reader Ron Kronk first reported finding human remains there in August 2008. Breathtakingly, Mr Mason has pointed out, that the Sheriff’s office failed to follow up on the report at a time when the nation was gripped with the search for the toddler whom many hoped might still be alive.

The area had already been searched on multiple occasions and Mr Kronk’s report was dismissed. It was only his persistence and return to the site that led to law enforcement following through and the grim discovery being made official.

According to Mr Mason the fact that the
exact location where Caylee was discovered had been searched on multiple
occasions before Mr Kronk’s first report suggests that the body had not
been missed – it just hadn’t been there.

He
is clear in his assertion that the body had been placed there somewhere
between the time of Casey’s arrest and its discovery. As Casey could
not possibly have done this from her jail cell Mr. Mason points to this
as proof of there having been another involved.

The
prosecution suggested that the area had been under water when initially
searched. When their expert witness, an hydrologist, did not
corroborate this theory, Mr. Mason reveals, they simply did not call
him. Mr. Kronk was not called either.

Similarly Mr. Mason points to the
prosecution’s assertion that a software search programme had revealed
that Casey had searched the word chloroform 84 times on her computer.
Though the cause of death has never been established this was presented
as damning evidence.

But the
expert who had testified to this in court had also subsequently informed
the prosecution that this was a mistake and that the data was wrong. In
fact there was only one search.

The
defense team asked for that testimony to be removed and the jury made
aware of the mistake. The motion was denied by a court that, according
to Mr. Mason, was prejudiced against Casey and caught up in the media
circus that surrounded the trial from the start.

Vanished: When Caylee¿s disappearance was discovered, Casey claimed to have mounted an investigation of her own

Public condemnation: Mason says that because of the prosecution and unfair media coverage, many believe Casey Anthony murdered her child, despite her being acquitted by a jury

During the trial Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi went on television and asserted her belief in Casey’s guilt – conduct which Mr. Mason has slammed as ‘reprehensible, unethical and grossly unprofessional.’

In an amusing aside Mr. Mason has revealed how he attempted to weed out potentially bias jurors with a simple enquiry as to whether or not they watched HNL’s Nancy Grace. An admission to doing so was enough to guarantee exclusion from the jury.

On one occasion, Mr. Mason writes: ‘We noticed that Ms. Grace herself was in the courtroom …During a round of interviewing that was already going very well, I said to the prospective juror, “Ma’am, I realize that the question I’m about to ask you, and your answer, may prove to be very embarrassing to yourself; but remember, no one here knows your name, nor can they see your face, and I do need to know the answer.”’

Pausing for effect in the now silent courtroom Mr. Mason pressed on, ‘Ma’am, as hard as it might be to admit, do you watch Nancy Grace?”’

When the woman answered, ‘No’ to spontaneous laughter in the court Ms. Grace ‘stormed out slamming the door.’

But there were few moments of levity in the case that held the nation in thrall and exerts a powerful hold over the popular imagination to this day.

One of the
most shocking days, for Mr. Mason, was the very opening of the trial
when defense attorney Jose Baez set out Casey’s allegations that her
father had abused her and the prosecution called George Anthony to the
stand and asked him about the claims made in Mr. Baez’s opening
statement.

George Anthony testified that he was ‘appalled’ by the allegations, which he claimed never to have heard before.

Two
and a half years earlier when the jail letters containing the
allegations first became known, Mr. Mason has no revealed that he called
George Anthony into his office to inform him of them ‘man to man.’

Convoluted: Defense attorney Dorothy Clay Sims displays a crime scene photo during the 2011 trial. Mason says a man reported a body in the area where Caylee's body was found but police failed to follow it up

Most hated woman in America: Casey Anthony (pictured after being acquitted) and her defense team still receive threats, three years after she was found not guilty

To Mr. Mason’s great surprise Anthony did not react, at all.

He then called in Casey’s mother, Cindy, to tell her of her daughter’s claims. In a meeting which he has now described as ‘one of the most uncomfortable of my career,’ Mrs. Anthony wept openly at her daughter’s claims.

In what Mr. Mason refers to as a ‘parade of truth’ he points to the witness who took to the stand admitting a long-term affair with George Anthony and stating that ‘Caylee’s death was an accident that snowballed out of control.’

But Casey’s acquittal has had little impact on the public hostility which still burns fiercely and sees Casey living a life ‘in hiding’ to this day.

As an example of her ‘courage’ and innocence Mr. Mason points to the fact that the most vocal opponent of a plea deal, in a case in which conviction could mean the death penalty, was Casey herself.

After just 11 hours of deliberation the jury acquitted Casey of the murder charges and convicted her on four counts of lying to detectives.

Ultimately the court reversed two of the four counts but by then Casey had already served time for the wrongful convictions.

In January 2013 she filed for bankruptcy claiming about $1,100 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities.Today she lives in an undisclosed location in Florida in what Mr. Mason describes as ‘her present chainless imprisonment.’